The early release of the web site was a big issue with last year’s signups and we need to be more careful this year.

A reminder that this is a Memorial, not a game, not a party, and not a political statement.

Signup Process

A big problem last year was the lack of ability for peak coordinators to contact their signed-up hikers, and vice-versa.

It was proposed that that PC’s must post their itinerary to a web site forum. That way everyone doing the peak has everything they need all in one place. Ed note: we did this informally last year; the proposal makes it mandatory and documents it at signup time for PC’s. They should also agree to be available for contact from their hikers or us, and actually check the site or their email.

Another proposal was that we do not automatically make the first person signed up for a peak be a PC. MJ expressed concern that we could end up with peaks without PC’s, but it was decided we didn’t think this would happen and if any peak ends up without a PC we’d be able to fill in the gaps.

SJ expressed concern that posted itineraries could lead to many extra people showing up at trailheads. The response was that this happens anyway, and there’s nothing we can or should do about it. Anyone who wants to hike up on their own that day can.

It was also proposed that we provide several official backup/on-call Peak Coordinator slots, so that anyone out there who wants to be a PC and is willing to take any peak, can be a fill-in.

We must also remember in the signups to inform PC’s that another responsibility is that we want pictures of their peak with the flag, plus a trip report, including what other flags they saw, all posted to the forum.

It was proposed while participants can read about their responsibilities before signing up, in the “receipt” email after signing up, they get a formal checklist to follow. Ed: we could even include things like specific dates they should touch base with their hikers

Preregistration

There are 3 groups set to come this year: 1 Scout group from last year and 2 new ones.

SC asked if we should set a limit as to how many youth groups can pregister? Response was that so far we don’t have a problem so let’s not worry yet.

Gary Braxten will be taking a Scout group from Tewksbury up Mt. Pierce. They’re going to spend the night before the event at the KOA, and the night after at Mizpah.

Marie Lawrence will be taking a Scout group from Haverhill up Mt. Cabot, camping at Unknown Pond.

For the remaining group (from Vernon?), it was suggested that Mt. Hale, staying at the Sugarloaf campground on Zealand Road would be an excellent suggestion to them.

We will again reserve Washington, Cannon, and Wildcat for any mobility-impaired individuals who want to participate. Also as with last year, we’ll open them up to everyone a few weeks before the event.

It was suggested that we do a formal invite to SherpaKroto to attend one of these peaks. Early reports from myself and Mike Sapporito Sapblatt were that SK was not interested but this may change over the summer and a nice formal invite may be worth trying.

We decided to nix any grandfathering of peak selections. The event needs to be open to anyone who wants to participate, new and repeat. We don’t want any perception of exclusivity; it’s not about that.

Victims

It was proposed that we should get a victim list and publish it on the website. From this we could offer the ability for PC’s to dedicate their peak – as an organized way of attaching real names of real people to the event.

It was also proposed that we encourage comment books on the summits. Some peaks already have some from past years; we should make sure current PC’s get them.

It was also proposed that the times of all the major 9/11 events be included on the web site, so that participants can offer moments of silence at those times. Ed: I’ve done this in the past and found it very moving, even solo.

All of the aforementioned should go into the registration process as a “Ways to remember 9/11 on your peak” type of document.

Publicity / Schedule / Contact

Chris has posted Madison’s Dirt_Girl press release and instructions on flag folding. Ed: The latter especially should be documented to help keep the summits more formal/solemn/commemorative, I think.

The day to post announcements to other web sites is Flag Day, June 14.

Signups will go live at 6pm, Monday July 10. We’ve chosen to give this year to the people with computers at home as opposed to at work. 🙂

We will change the flags contact email to deliver to a committee-shared email inbox so the burden of replying to queries isn’t entirely Stephen’s.

Chris proposed having an automated mailing list signup for newsletters, as opposed to doing mass emails based on forum registrations. This service is provided as part of our web hosting and is already available to us. The only quirk is that because it’s an existing technology outside the web site, it’s a separate page to go to, so while we could provide a button in the signup process, it could not be automated – they’d have to click on the button. Only Chris or Stephen would be able to email to the list.

MichaelJ showed flyers and laminated cards to the group. He will make the .pdf’s available to be posted on the website so that anyone can print their own (Staples will even accept a .pdf as a web submission if you want to have them print for you). MichaelJ will also get some more copies up to MtnMagic to leave in the hiker-frequented shops up in NH on/after Flag Day. He also provided a few sheets of a whipped-up “letterhead” to Jay to use for, among other things, a thank-you to the campground.

The movie is said to need additional footage. Hopefully this year will provide enough to fill out the production.

5th Anniversary of Flags on the 48

A reminder that this is the 5th year of the event, and as always, an anniversary is a good time to remember how the event came to be, why we’re there, what we are doing, why we’re together for the weekend, etc.

The current plan for an event gathering is to see about using the big tent at the KOA. We could include a checkbox on the signups asking if the participant(s) would attend a Saturday night BBQ at the KOA (and/or stay there as well) to get a feel for the numbers.

The gathering would be BYO grill food in general but we’d provide a quantity of burgers, dogs, chips. Definitely BYOB, though we’d again provide a quantity of soda.

Jay will coordinate with the KOA to determine feasibility.

Contingencies

As with every year, we were reminded that we never cancel, we only postpone, the event, and only in the case of dangerous weather, such as thunderstorms. Rain alone, we’re on the summits. However, if we do have to postpone the event, we will cancel the gathering; we will not attempt to reschedule any get-together.

SJ proposed that in case of event postponement, we make sure to post something right on the front page of the website. Ed: we can also use the newsletter email list, and should mention that as a use/incentive for people to sign up for it.

Miscellaneous

Jay will consider a letter to USAF about the A-10 flyover.

I have a note “Unique designs for flags for our trees” … ring any bells?

While it poured Friday night, it was a fine evening for the meeting. Thanks were offered to Rocks on Top for allowing us to share space with their Gathering. As always, we were appreciative of the great accommodations offered to us by the Broken Branch KOA campground in Woodstock.

After adjourning, we gathering around the campfire and enjoyed the remainder of the weekend.
:flag:

Good work! Lots of new faces at the meeting with some great input. It rained a lot, but that just means we get A+ weather for Flags Weekend :flag: . SJ mentioned to me afterwards that it’s very likely the A-10 came out of Barnes AFB in Westfield, Ma.. That would be awesome if we could get another flyover. For those who never saw it, he’s what it looked like from Mt Lincoln last year:

I noted that you are thinking of putting a soldier’s name with a mountain. I think this is a great idea. We would like to do this as one of our close friend’s son just died in Iraq. Please keep Mt. Liberty open to honor Doug Decenzo and we will organize a memorial hike for him and put the flag up in his name.
frannieg